1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a device for rapidly measuring the radius of curvature of convex or concave items.
More particularly, the present invention relates to a curved surface measuring device which is a hand held unit made of plastic or stainless steel, and which may contain a LCD (liquid crystal display) which will directly display the radius of the curved surface measured in inches or centimeters as selected. The LCD may be programmable to display the radius in feet or meters, the diameter and circumference (of the circle of which the curved surface is a part), and the length of the curved surface intersected by a secant of given or measured length.
2. Description of Relevant Art
The prior art and conventional devices have not been successful in providing a small hand held device which accurately measures curved surfaces and displays the result substantially.
Illustrative of the relevant art are: Sutterlin U.S. Pat. No. 1,971,928 entitled "STRADDLE DIAL MICROMETER"; Harris U.S. Pat. No. 3,439,430 entitled "ARC-MEASURING GAUGE FOR USE WITH CYLINDRICAL OBJECTS"; Strasbaugh U.S. Pat. No. 3,848,339 entitled "CYLOMETER"; and Balogh et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,389,788 entitled "APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MEASURING ROLL DIAMETERS."